Sat.Nov 03, 2012 - Fri.Nov 09, 2012

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Why “The Culture of Failure” is Imperative to Startup Communities

Both Sides of the Table

I recently wrote about the 12 tips to building successful startup communities. After a recent discussion I had with Steve Blank it made me remember that I had left off one of the most critical factors – a culture of failure. I remember this lesson well. I lived in London from 1997-2005 and for 6 of those years ran my startup based out of London.

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Forget Presidential Politics: Here’s How We Create Jobs — And How You Can Help

Gust

As I write this, days after the 2012 presidential election, I’m probably not alone in feeling relieved that the political jeering and soapboxing that reached a feverish pitch during the seemingly endless campaign season has finally subsided. Yet amidst all the partisan cheerleading and name-calling, there has been some discussion of substance.

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Lead by consensus wherever possible.

Berkonomics

Dictators are not great leaders in the long run. People follow such leaders by fear, rarely by devotion. Employees want to have a stake in their own destiny, and above all want to understand why actions are taken which affect them, even if the outcome is not in the employee’s favor. The best leaders are those who share problems and alternative solutions with their direct reports, then seek consensus in decisions as a result.

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Illegitimi non carborundum

This is going to be BIG.

(Mock Latin for "Don't let the bastards get you.") When you dare to try something big, and put yourself out there, the amount of support you get from others will undoubtedly be matched by the amount of people who secretly, or not so secretly want to take you down. They're either jealous, or they like to be right--so they play the odds that you'll fail.

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Digitalization: 5 Tech Updates That Will Help You Survive The Recession & Thrive

Lack of digitalization decreases business competitiveness. To thrive, embracing modern solutions becomes essential. The approach to digitalization often aligns with a company's business model. This shift not only boosts productivity but also automates processes and improves security. The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.

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Why Silicon Valley and Hollywood Don’t Get Each Other and Who Will Win the Future

Both Sides of the Table

For the past three years I have been pounding the table as loud as I can about the future opportunities in digital video. The concise guide is here. My narrative has stayed pretty simple: People in the US watch 5.3 hours of TV per day. People read for less than 30 minutes. You will not fundamentally change consumers media consumption habits. So you tell me what the future of the Internet will be?

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The trinity of product design

Tomasz Tunguz

Yesterday, I watched as a friend of mine created an Expensify account for his startup. He was trying the product for the first time. I took notes without saying much. The experience reminded me of the hours I spent in Google’s usability labs watching people use our AdSense Demographic Targeting beta product. In those sessions, I remember feeling a sense of excitement followed by frustration - even disillusionment.

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Subway Thumbing

This is going to be BIG.

I'm annoying cold right now. I didn't used to get this cold--i.e. I used to have hair. Ever since I shaved my head, I learned the hard way that it's true what they say. Heat does escape through your head. The only reason I'm even on the subway now is because I thought I had gloves at my office. Without gloves, biking around in the winter is nearly unbearable for me--or at least wildly unpleasant.

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Why Startup Entrepreneurs Need to Communicate More Like George Bush Than Al Gore

Both Sides of the Table

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. It is election season. So it’s tempting to think this is going to be a partisan post – it is not. I use George Bush vs. Al Gore as allegory and I’ve been using it with entrepreneurs for years to sink in a simple point about how to communicate with the market. I use it because I believe in the power of visual and memorable stories to sink into the consciousness.

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What is an effective “pre-incorporation-agreement” between possible founders of a startup?

Gust

The bottom line is that the very question you are asking is one of the trickiest things of all when it comes to startup founding. On the one hand, if you DON’T make things explicitly clear up front, you are just begging for a future disaster by ‘kicking the can down the road’ On the other hand, if everything is locked in stone before you even start, you may find yourself with a completely untenable structure even six or twelve months out, when it becomes clear that not everyon

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The Big Payoff of Application Analytics

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

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Radio Ga Ga

Tomasz Tunguz

Must content platforms be reinvented every few years? Left to its own devices, the mob will augment, accessorize, spam, degrade and noisify whatever they have access to, until it loses beauty and function and becomes something else. Seth Godin. Given the noise and misinformation disseminated on Twitter both during the election and the Sandy disaster , I’ve been wondering how Godin’s thoughts apply to new information networks: blogs and feeds.

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10 Things for Barack Obama's Second Term To Do List

This is going to be BIG.

Tweet. Regardless of whether you were happy about yesterday's outcome, I think we can all agree on one thing: There's a lot of work to do. So, I figured I'd jot a few things down I think the President should spend his time doing between now and 2016. 1. Play nice. The Democrats don't control the government, so if both sides can't work together, we're going to sit stagnant and deadlocked for the next four years while the rest of the world moves forward.

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Some Quick Thoughts on Exits for Technology Startups

Both Sides of the Table

Later today I’m presenting at the annual Rincon Ventures Summit in Santa Barbara. Startup Exits: A Primer from msuster. I thought you might like to see an advance copy of what I’m going to cover. I speak privately a lot about getting an exit at a startup. I haven’t spoken publicly about it much but since Rincon asked – I agreed.

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The culture of data science

Tomasz Tunguz

In a triumph of statistics, Nate Silver predicted the outcome of every state in the Presidential election correctly. What makes this story so noteworthy isn’t that it proves data enables superior decision-making to human intuition. We know the math works. Instead, Silver’s success highlights and challenges the prevailing culture, present in politics and in the workplace, that overvalues intuition and undervalues data.

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PE Mastery: CAPTARGET's Playbook for Quality Lead Flow

CAPTARGET presents a masterclass in M&A deal sourcing. Learn to cast a wide net, embracing seller self-identification. Consistency is the linchpin: keep the origination process steady for a reliable flow of opportunities. Diversify your tactics, employing various tools and vendors. Tech matters! Understand DNS settings, domain authority, and brand presence for optimal outreach.

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Mobile OS trends in five charts

Tomasz Tunguz

In May 2010, I bet a good friend of mine that Android would overtake iOS in total devices shipments in 12 months' time. My prediction was completely off the mark. In May 2011, iOS led cumulative shipments by more than 100%: 191M to 95M. It would take another 10 months for Android to equal Apple in March 2011 at about 325M each. Race to one billion devices.

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The idea factory

Tomasz Tunguz

This morning, I listened to an interview of Jon Gertner who has published. a chronicle of Bell Labs called the Idea Factory. In his book and the interview, Gertner highlighted points about the Bell Labs that relate to Clay Christensen’s recent New York Times editorial, the Capitalist’s Dilemma. Bell Labs was a house of magic - a place of prodigious invention and innovation.